Meet the executive leadership team responsible for operational oversight of Optum’s two Massachusetts care delivery organizations, Atrius Health and Reliant Medical Group.
Christopher M. Andreoli, MD, MBA
Chief Executive Officer, Optum Massachusetts
Thad Schilling, MD
President & Chief Medical Officer, Optum Massachusetts
Linda Coccola
Chief Marketing & Communications Officer
Kristen Dulling, DNP
Chief Nursing Officer
Purnima Vepa Jain
Chief Financial Officer
Stephen Knox
Chief Operating Officer
Craig Monsen, MD
Chief Information Officer
Sandra Reddington
Chief People Officer & Chief Strategy Deployment Officer
Christopher M. Andreoli, MD, MBA
Chief Executive Officer
Optum Massachusetts
Dr. Christopher Andreoli is CEO of Atrius Health and Reliant Medical Group, both Massachusetts-based, Optum-owned, multispecialty medical groups. Serving the eastern and central regions of the state, Atrius Health and Reliant care for nearly a million adults and children in 40 service locations.
Dr. Andreoli is an innovative healthcare leader focused on providing patient-centered care and service in a clinical environment that attracts and nurtures top clinical talent. As the head of two longstanding physician groups steeped in the provision of value-based healthcare, Dr. Andreoli is committed to designing population health programs and services that deliver high-quality patient care, while making efficient use of resources.
Previously, Dr. Andreoli served as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Transformation Officer for Atrius Health with responsibility for innovation, digital health, clinical operations, and real estate. During his 15 years with this organization, he has served in a broad range of clinical and operational leadership roles including Chair of Surgical Specialties, Chief of Ophthalmology and Medical Director of Commercial ACO Programs.
Dr. Andreoli received his undergraduate degree from Boston University and his medical degree at Boston University School of Medicine. He completed his residency in ophthalmology and fellowship in vitreo-retinal surgery at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary/Harvard Medical School. He also holds a Master of Business Administration from the MIT Sloan School of Management. Dr. Andreoli maintains a clinical practice as a vitreo-retinal surgeon and is involved in clinical research and teaching through his appointments at Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary.
Thad Schilling, MD
President & Chief Medical Officer
Optum Massachusetts
A practicing internist, Dr. Thad Schilling first joined Reliant Medical Group in 2014. Dr. Schilling now serves as the Chief Medical Officer, and Interim President for Reliant Medical Group.
His initial leadership work was in Primary Care, with an emphasis on pioneering the transition to team-based care for patients at Reliant. This new model for primary care delivery focuses on patient-centeredness, interdisciplinary teamwork, and achieving key quality and efficiency initiatives. He is currently focused on clinical transformation in Reliant’s specialty practices.
Dr. Schilling earned his medical degree from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio and performed his internship and residency in Internal Medicine at Brigham’s and Women’s Hospital in Boston.
Linda M. Coccola
Chief Marketing & Communications Officer
Optum Massachusetts
A seasoned healthcare communications professional with over 20 years of executive leadership experience, Linda Coccola oversees the planning and execution of all external marketing, patient, and corporate communications activities for Optum Massachusetts. In addition, she oversees the Patient Experience function at Reliant Medical Group.
Linda joined Fallon Clinic in 2007 and shortly thereafter designed and led the organization’s rebranding to Reliant Medical Group, a solution that resolved decades of brand confusion in the Central Massachusetts market. During her tenure at Reliant, Linda has led a wide variety of strategic initiatives, including starting a dedicated New Patient Registration department, taking a lead role in Optum Integration, and leading major new patient acquisition and retention efforts.
Prior to arriving at Reliant Medical Group, Linda spent 18 years in healthcare marketing leadership roles, including over 15 years at The Providence Center, a large regional community mental health center in Rhode Island where she was the Chief Marketing Officer. In this role she oversaw all advertising, public relations, and internal communication activities. She also initiated and oversaw the business development function, which was instrumental in designing and bringing to market new services for new market segments. During her tenure with The Providence Center, Linda worked as a consultant with Mental Health Corporations of America educating members about developing marketing functions within their non-profit organizations. Linda also spent two years as the Director of Marketing & Fund Development at Dedham, Massachusetts-based Riverside Community Care. In this role she directed the marketing communications program, as well its fund development and major giving efforts.
Before entering healthcare marketing, Linda was a public relations account executive for two Rhode Island-based marketing consulting firms where her clients included A.T. Cross and Ocean Spray.
Kristen Dulling, DNP
Chief Nursing Officer
Optum Massachusetts
Prior to taking on her Optum Massachusetts role, Kristen Dulling led Atrius Health’s nursing teams as the Vice President of Nursing and the Vice President of Clinical Operations in Primary Care. In 1995 she joined the Medford practice as a medical assistant while attending Simmons College for Nursing. She went on to work in that practice as a pediatric staff RN. Soon after, she transitioned to leadership and became the Clinical Nurse Manager. From 2017-2020 she served as the Pediatric Nursing Director, and in 2020 was the first Primary Care Executive Director in Nursing. Kristen has a Master of Science in Clinical Operations from Harvard Medical School, and is a candidate for her DNP at Yale University.
Purnima Vepa Jain
Chief Financial Officer
Optum Massachusetts
Purnima Vepa Jain serves as Chief Financial Officer and is responsible for financial oversight at Reliant Medical Group. Purnima joined the organization as an analyst in 2002. She became the Manager of Financial Planning and Analysis in 2010, where she was responsible for organizing, coordinating and successfully completing the annual operating and capital budgets. In this position, she also performed other financial planning activities including preparing and maintaining short/long-range financial forecast models.
Purnima stepped into the Director of Finance and Business Support role in 2013 during an era when Reliant’s risk portfolio – and the complexity of healthcare finance – was growing rapidly. In this role, Purnima supported the financial due diligence and related efforts pertaining to mergers and acquisitions at Reliant, including the merger of Reliant and Southboro Medical Groups, and Optum’s acquisition of Reliant Medical Group. She became the Executive Director of Financial Planning and Healthcare Analytics in 2018 and joined Reliant’s executive team in 2019. She was promoted to Chief Financial Officer in 2021.
Purnima’s extensive experience in financial planning and managed care finance has greatly benefited the organization. A graduate of Brunel University in London, England, Purnima received her Bachelor of Science with Honors (Economics and Business Finance) in 1998, and completed her Master of Science in Finance in 2002 at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts. She also completed a Corporate Leadership Program for Reliant Medical Group at the Harvard School of Public Health, in 2014.
Stephen Knox
Chief Operating Officer
Optum Massachusetts
Stephen Knox is a seasoned healthcare executive with a career spanning over three decades. Since joining Reliant Medical Group in 1998, Stephen has been instrumental in shaping the organization’s strategic direction and operational excellence. As Chief Operating Officer (COO), Stephen brings a wealth of experience and leadership to his role, overseeing all facets of clinical operations, real estate/facility management, and supply chain logistics.
In 2015, Stephen was appointed Acting Chief Operating Officer, a testament to his exceptional leadership qualities and strategic vision. The following year, he assumed the position permanently, driving innovation and efficiency across the organization. Collaborating closely with Dr. Thad Schilling, Stephen co-led Reliant’s ambitious “Care Transformation” strategy, ushering in a new era of patient-centric and provider team-based healthcare as well as the relocation of our practices to ten state of the art facilities across Central Massachusetts.
His dedication to advancing healthcare delivery culminated in his appointment as Chief Operating Officer for Optum Massachusetts in 2023, with oversight of both Reliant Medical Group and our eastern Massachusetts counterpart medical group – Atrius Health. At the helm of Optum Massachusetts Operations, Stephen leads a dynamic team responsible for transforming patient care delivery and optimizing clinical support functions.
Stephen’s academic credentials include a Bachelor of Science in Health Care Management from the University of Connecticut and an MBA from the University of Hartford. His journey at Reliant began in the Finance department, where he held increasingly senior positions before transitioning to executive leadership. Prior to Reliant, Stephen honed his expertise at UMass Memorial Health Care and Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, gaining invaluable insights into payer relations and financial operations.
As a pivotal member of the Optum Massachusetts Executive Team, Stephen’s multifaceted experience spans payer, hospital, and physician domains, making him an invaluable asset in navigating the complexities of the healthcare landscape.
Craig Monsen, MD
Chief Information Officer
Optum Massachusetts
Craig Monsen is the Chief Information Officer serving Atrius Health and Reliant Medical Group. As a practicing internal medicine physician and technologist, Craig aims to uplift health care information systems to make it easy for care teams to provide simple, high-value care.
Craig’s professional responsibilities include overseeing a team of technology professionals responsible for the Epic Electronic Health Record, Data & Analytics, Infrastructure & Operations, Applications, and Client Services. His efforts focus on enhancing provider experience, improving performance in value-based care arrangements, enabling secure health information exchange, and growing primary care through improved digital access. Beyond Massachusetts, Craig’s work has been central to several cross-industry health and technology collaborations, generated two digital health companies, garnered national recognition and awards from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, US Health and Human Services, Microsoft, Harvard University, and Cigna, and led to multiple peer-reviewed contributions to the informatics literature. Craig continues to serve as an instructor at Harvard Medical School, a member of the Epic Care Everywhere Governing Council, and director on the Board of the Massachusetts Health Data Consortium.
Previously, Craig served as Chief Medical Information Officer at Atrius Health. He is dually-certified in Clinical Informatics and Internal Medicine. He completed his residency with Primary Care focus in the combined Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Atrius Health/Harvard Medical School program. Prior to that, he obtained his MD at Johns Hopkins and graduated with Highest Honors in engineering at Harvard.
Sandra Reddington
Chief People Officer & Chief Strategy Deployment Officer
Optum Massachusetts
Sandra Reddington joined Atrius Health in January 2018 as Director of Operational Transformation. In that position, she restored the Hoshin Planning and Strategy Deployment process while building an infrastructure and team to support optimization initiatives in Operations. Sandra brings a unique skill set that combines process improvement, strategy deployment, lean leadership and team building. Sandra has a broad background in executive coaching, leadership development, patient experience improvement, and organizational change management. She served a critical role as Vice President of Performance Excellence in transforming South Shore Hospital in South Weymouth, Massachusetts where she assisted the organization in becoming one of The Boston Globe Best Places to Work from 2010 – 2014, and achieving top quartile and above national Press Ganey rankings for employee and patient satisfaction. Her efforts to create a culture of patient-centered care and lean thinking also contributed to the hospital’s two consecutive Magnet designations for Excellence in Nursing. Sandra began her career as a physical therapist which sparked her passion for coaching and connecting with people in order to help them improve. She entered healthcare management as Director of Rehabilitation Services at Emory Adventist Hospital in Smyrna, Georgia and then progressed to various leadership roles in patient relations, service excellence and performance improvement at Northside Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia. Sandra received her Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in Physical Therapy from D’Youville College in Buffalo, New York. She also holds a Certificate in Lean in Healthcare from the University of Michigan School of Engineering and studied Hoshin/Lean Management at the ThedaCare Center for Value in Appleton and The Lean Enterprise Institute in Cambridge.
